


Thirty Reasons John Watson is Grateful

by fortunatelykeendetective



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Husbands, Implied previous John Watson/James Sholto, Light Smut, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-26
Updated: 2015-11-26
Packaged: 2018-05-03 13:01:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5291843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fortunatelykeendetective/pseuds/fortunatelykeendetective
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A companion piece to Thirty Reasons Sherlock Holmes is Grateful. </p><p>Since Americans celebrate Thanksgiving today, here's a look at why John is grateful. Guaranteed fluff and schmoop. </p><p>Not beta'ed or Brit-picked. Apart from the obvious bit that as a Brit John doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, feel free to Brit-pick or point out errors.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thirty Reasons John Watson is Grateful

**Author's Note:**

> #23 is part of a larger story I'm writing in my head.

Thirty Things John Watson is Grateful For:

  1.       James Sholto, who first made him unafraid to love another man.  

  2.       Mike Stamford, who took notice of him hobbling across the pavement that day.  

  3.       The most stunning eyes on the planet, belonging to one Mr. Sherlock Holmes. John’s developed the capacity to read most any emotion Sherlock has by one look at his eyes, but one thing that never changes is how every time he sees them, they take his breath away.  

  4.       The way Sherlock’s bum looks in those black trousers. Yep… _those_ black trousers.  

  5.       Also, Sherlock’s eggplant shirt. There have been several eggplant shirts in the years they’ve been together. John makes sure Sherlock always has one in the closet, because damn if Sherlock is not the most gorgeous being on the planet when he wears it. Who is John kidding, Sherlock is the most gorgeous creature on the planet when he wears anything at all (or nothing at all).    

  6.       For all Sherlock’s assertion that John is the more romantic of the two, it was Sherlock who found the heart-shaped sea glass on the beach while they honeymooned and gave it to John. “ _You’ve always had my heart, John. This is merely a symbolic way of saying so gifted to us by the forces of nature._ ” John keeps that seashell on his bedside table where he will see it every day.  

  7.       Sherlock’s _Christ-on-a-pogo-stick_ gorgeous hair. John can – and does – get lost in that hair on a regular basis when they’re making love. It smells so clean and fresh and so….Sherlock.  

  8.       Sherlock taking the time out on cases to make sure John eats properly.   

  9.       Sherlock has finally learned to keep body parts confined to one sector of the fridge, labeled, and in a location where they will not drop onto actual food that they will actually eat.  

  10.    Because of Sherlock Holmes, John hasn’t needed antidepressants in nearly twenty years.  

  11.    That song of theirs. _Their_ song. The one that makes him drop what he’s doing and before he knows it, John’s husband has found him wherever he is in their flat and swept him into a slow dance. Bodies pressed together toe to top, and for those four minutes the world stops while the husbands sway gently in their sitting room, Sherlock’s head bent slightly, almost prayerlike, as he breathes into John’s ear and says everything he needs to say without speaking a word. John cherishes the damp spot on his shoulder that’s always there when their dance finishes.    

  12.    Sherlock’s great honesty. He prefers the honesty of Sherlock Holmes that can sometimes be cruel and poorly worded than the well-intended half-truths of the entire rest of the world.  

  13.    John is the first and the only person to make love to the force of nature that is Sherlock Holmes.  He hides this treasure deep inside his heart, wondering what he did to deserve such a beautiful gift, and has made up his mind to spend the rest of his life earning it.  

  14.    Sherlock seeing past the paranoid suicidal cripple to see John Watson, and deciding that John is worth saving. Worth befriending. In reality he has saved John over and over in the last few decades.  

  15.    Sherlock’s Belstaff. God, the things they can do – ahem, _have done_ – underneath that coat when no one else is looking.  

  16.    Sherlock’s stunning beauty from head to toe and all in between. There are days when John has to stop what he’s doing and just stare at the work of art that is Sherlock Holmes. Even after all the years they’ve been husbands and for all his medical knowledge, John still can’t wrap his mind around one person containing so much spectacularly aligned DNA.  

  17.    John’s favorite flavor of marmalade is always in the fridge. Sherlock sees to that, even though he still hates food shopping.  

  18.    The scars on Sherlock’s back. John despises the circumstances which put them there, but their presence is a daily – sometimes hourly – reminder of Sherlock’s willingness to die for John.  John doesn’t know how he’ll ever deserve the love of such an extraordinary man.  

  19.    Sherlock’s perfect bow of a mouth at all hours of the day. Perfect for John to kiss and demonstrate just how much space in his heart is occupied by this beautiful, phenomenal, infuriating, irreplaceable genius.  

  20.    Their first Christmas as husbands, Sherlock took it upon himself to decorate the flat one day while John was at clinic. John came home to find the entire flat strung with white lights, including the canopy of their bed. John liked the bedroom lights so much they decided to leave them up year-round. If it increased the room’s ambience, well, they could think of excuses to have a lie-in.  

  21.    John rarely has nightmares these days, but when he does he wakes up to a pair of lanky masculine arms around him, the softest of kisses at his cheek, ear, and nape, and a gentle _shhhhh, you’re safe and I love you, John. I love you and will never leave you_. When he wakes the next morning, those arms are still wrapped around him.  

  22.    Watching Sherlock with dogs and small children is more of a treat than John ever dreamt it would be.  

  23.    The privilege of being by Sherlock’s side when they buried their newborn daughter Lily. In the subsequent days, weeks, and months when grief overtook one or both of them, they spent hours clinging to one another. John wouldn’t wish the loss of a child on anyone, but he could imagine no one being a better rock, a more constant source of comfort and love than his husband Sherlock.  

  24.    The platinum wedding band (would Sherlock get anything less?) which Sherlock had inscribed with the words. “So many times and in so many ways.” John never takes it off, and he hopes his internal anatomical structures are true to the old saying about the fourth finger of your left hand having a vessel that leads straight back to your heart.  

  25.    Sherlock is never afraid to apologize. In fact he’s almost always the first to do so.  

  26.    The husbands never go to bed angry with one another. If it takes until dawn for them to resolve their differences, they stay up until dawn, for they spent too many years sweeping unsaid things under the rug.  

  27.    Sherlock only cooks once or twice a year, but it is always for John’s birthday. Until Sherlock came along, no one celebrated John’s birthday with a lot of fanfare. Sherlock does nothing halfway, so  after an afternoon at the pub with their friends, Sherlock cooks his mum’s pot roast, bakes homemade bread, lights a dozen candles, and they listen to old jazz and blues until the wee hours.  

  28.    Sherlock knows how annoyed John gets when the toothpaste tube is smashed unevenly, so Sherlock has become fastidious about squeezing toothpaste from the bottom up. John hasn’t said anything, but every morning he notices this and falls in love with Sherlock all over again.  

  29.    Sherlock’s ability to read his mind.  

  30.    John Watson spent his first forty years floundering about and failing at love. What he is grateful for beyond his wildest dreams, far more than anything else on the planet, is the day Sherlock Holmes said ‘I do’ and they went from lovers to husbands until one of them breathes his last. Some people go their entire lives without being loved by someone the way Sherlock Holmes-Watson loves him; for that love, John Watson-Holmes is eternally grateful.



 

Companion piece (Thirty Reasons Sherlock Holmes is Grateful) found [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5289779). 

**Author's Note:**

> Full disclosure: writing this one made me cry.


End file.
